Surviving
by BackgroundRobot-11
Summary: Follow several groups, from Jedi, to Separatist to Rebel as they try to survive in a Galaxy ruled by the evil Galactic Empire. Sister-fic to Unexpected Places.
1. Escape

Hello, and welcome to Star Wars: Survivors, chapter 1. This sort of ties in with my other Star Wars story, Unexpected Places, and will probably feature several of the same characters, either as main characters, secondary slots or simply as cameos. Now, as usual, I will have to point out that I obviously don't own the Star Wars franchise or any of the characters that are associated with Star Wars...I do however own several original characters, as shown here. Well, now that we have all that out of the way, please remember to enjoy, don't forget to leave a review, and finally...thanks for reading!

* * *

Date: 19 BBY

Location: Dimock

Tadra slashed into a member of the Dimockian militia, creating a huge gash from his shoulder to his hip. Turning, he sent another three flying with a push from the Force before decapitating a B1 battle droid which had been running towards him. _There's never any end to them, we try to convince them to join the Republic, only for them to turn on us and join the Separatists, _Tadra thought as he impaled another droid.

"Master! How do you fare?" Tadra's Padawan, Molkir Tyd, a gangly, furry Gados cried as he gracefully redirected a shot from a tactical droid.

"Fine Molkir, I am fine!" Tadra called back as he disarmed a colonist, only to cry out as a stray shot winged one of his horns.

Tadra Kren was an Elomin Jedi, a species who were believed to be related to the Zabrak, only much more mathematically minded and with grander horns.

"Tadra! Are you alright?" Tadra's friend, Yulo Gart, a green skinned Gama-Senn asked as he rushed to his side to provide cover.

"Fine, it was just a scratch." Tadra said, reassuring his friend as he got to his feet and deflected another shot.

All around the trio of Jedi were hundreds of clone troopers from the 179th Legion fighting settlers from Dimock and their battle droid allies. Leading the charge atop an All Terrain-Tactical Enforcer was CC-4236, also known as Torch. Aside from a kama, rangefinder and pauldron, Torch was indistinguishable from his soldiers, a personal choice. Chartreuse stripes ran along his armour, the same pattern was present on the armour of all of the members of the 179th Legion.

"Generals, how goes the siege?" Torch asked from atop the gunner's position of the AT-TE.

"Very well, Commander, we expect to break through their defences very soon!" Tadra shouted to be heard over the din of combat.

And Tadra's words soon proved to be correct as the militia threw down their arms when it became apparent that they stood no chance of winning. The droids on the other hand, held their ground, save for some of the more self preserving tactical droids, who fled off into the wilderness, alongside a handful of organic soldiers. The battle was short, however, as the Jedi and their valiant clone trooper allies were quick to mop up the remaining battle droid forces.

Yulo sighed and looked out to the jungle where some of the survivors had fled "Well, I suppose we'll have to go and round them up?"

Torch got down from his position "I'm afraid not, General."

"Oh? And why is that, Commander?" Tadra asked.

"We've just received a report that a _Venator-_class Star Destroyer was downed, although several escape pods were launched." Torch explained.

"So we're supposed to go out and round up the survivors?" Molkir questioned as he approached, clipping his lightsaber to his belt.

"Not quite, sir, apparently, this particular Star Destroyer was transporting a group of newborns freshly acquisitioned by the Jedi order, to be taken back to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. The infants were fortunate enough to escape via an escape pod, and it is our duty to rescue them." Torch said for clarification.

"I see," Tadra said, stroking his chin "And what of the Jedi Recruiter who found them?"

Torch sighed "Regrettably, Master Donus Trier was killed while escorting the younglings to safety; he was unable to get to an escape pod in time. Instead, he chose to make sure that the younglings were launched safely."

"Ah...Torch, I'll need you and two squads of troopers to escort us, we may encounter Separatist patrols out there and we may need the assistance." Tadra informed the Commander.

Torch nodded "Very well sir, I'll go and prepare the eopies."

"Bring an RTT, we may need it." Yulo called out to Torch as he walked off.

* * *

Soon, the group rode out to where the escape pod was believed to have landed. The Jedi, Torch and a handful of clones rode eopies while the rest rode in the Republic Troop Transport as it cruised along a couple of meters off the ground. Taking out a pair of macrobinoculars, Tadra scouted the area.

"See anything yet, Master?" Molkir asked.

"Hmmm, not yet, I...Wait a second, I think I see something..." Tadra murmured as he settled on the object in the distance "Yes, this appears to be it..."

And so, they continued on to the escape pod, shortly arriving at it.

"Well, it seems to be intact." One of Torch's men, a trooper named Hound observed as he approached it.

Hound was Torch's right hand clone, and unlike his Commander, did believe in customising his armour. His helmet was reinforced, having a blast shield mounted to the forehead and sideplates to protect his face. In addition to that, he had a rangefinder attached to his helmet, two pauldrons and a massif was painted across his chest.

"Let's just hope that the younglings are in the same condition." Yulo murmured as he began keying in a code for the escape pods doors.

The pods door hissed, before sliding open and revealing a number of younglings of varying species, ranging from the human, the humanoid and the outright alien.

"Molkir?" Tadra motioned to his Padawan.

"Yes Master?" Molkir asked.

"Bring out the checklist; I want to make sure that they are all here." Tadra informed Molkir.

"Very well Master" Molkir replied as he brought out a small pad and began to read aloud ""Younglings of Krakana Clan", uh, let's see...Arikki T'Cha...Human/Noorian hybrid female"

Tadra and Yulo scouted the group before settling on a young human girl with blonde hair and green eyes, flecked with gold "Check." Yulo replied.

"Aran Gunnar, Teloc male"

A yellow skinned humanoid with horns on his head.

"O'choa Pyne, Zabrak female"

A little Zabrak girl with black hair was carried forward. Yulo smiled, trying to elicit a response from the youngling, only to get nothing.

"Tora Mikalto, Nikto male"

A Kajain'sa'Nikto was carried out of the pod and brought towards Tadra.

"Philo Skrelth, Gran male"

A Gran child, no more than six months old shivered as he was brought out into the cold air. He clutched tightly to the arm of the clone trooper who was carrying him.

"Mas Tolnoth, Tughri male"

A small alien which none of the Jedi, nor the clones had ever seen before was picked up. He had red skin, a diamond shaped piece of hardened skin in place of a nose and long, gangly limbs.

"Well, he's lighter than I would have expected." Hound noted as he delicately picked up the infant and placed him with the others.

Molkir continued "Luxa and Marruc Goss, female and male Zeltrons respectively."

Two red skinned Zeltron children, likely twins were brought to their fellow called younglings, each held the others hand. The girl, Luxa, had red hair, while her brother, Marruc had blue hair.

"Gaz Fordus, Filordus, asexual"

A small, orange skinned alien, resembling a four legged, two armed hairless dog tried to lope forward, before collapsing. Gaz looked at the Jedi with curiosity, seeming to examine them, before it too was carried away by one of the clone troopers.

"Taro Manus, Ipharian-Da'Lor male..." Molkir said, looking towards his master.

A small, serpentine alien got out of the pod. It had grey scales, two arms ending in clawed hands, a row of sharp spines and equally sharp looking teeth. To the wonder of the clone troopers, his skin seemed to be cycling through a range of different hues.

"Camouflage, now that will be a highly useful skill." Tadra noted with approval.

"Um...Holdus Gaan, Akurian Male" Molkir continued to read aloud.

A blue fur covered alien, somewhat resembling a Wookiee lurched forward, fur covering all but his face. The clone that picked him up seemed to do so with incredible difficulty.

"Stang, this one is heavy!" He gasped breathlessly.

"No swearing in front of the younglings, please." Tadra reprimanded.

"Takaris Gold, Mon Calamari male"

A little Mon Calamari child closely followed behind Holdus, his large orange eyes darting back and forth between the Jedi and the clones.

"Gorras-Krik, Ongree male"

A strange, squid headed alien was shown before them, his mouth set in the centre of his head while his eyes were close to his chin.

"Kallus Eikh'mir, Gengh-Noghri male...um, Gengh-Noghri?" a puzzled Molkir questioned.

"They're a subspecies of Noghri found in Wild Space, they have crocodilian heads and tend to grow up to two meters in height," Torch explained, then found himself being examined by the surprised Jedi "I, uh, fought a few while the Separatists were holed up in an old Rakatan temple."

"Ok then, moving on we have...Kori Dannus, Ithorian male"

A hammer headed Ithorian was carried forward. Peering closely at the child, Tadra could sense a great deal of power in him, along with...something else...

"Arla Downe, Aleena female."

Yulo picked up a tiny Aleena child and set her down next to Gorras, only for her to quickly scamper next to Holdus.

"Garr-Ack-Psyaka, he's a Tiss'shar male."

Torch made his way to the escape pod, but leapt back when a reptilian youth leapt out and scampered to take his place next to the other younglings. It was clear that the boy would grow into a fierce alien, bearing jagged claws, razor sharp teeth and having green and yellow skin that would allow him to blend in with a number of areas.

"And finally...Vasaga Nomaki, Noorian male"

A dark skinned humanoid alien was taken out of the escape pod, and Tadra observed his eyes, green striped with gold. He could also sense that he had a great deal of Force power within him, rivalling that of the Ithorian, Kori, possibly even greater.

"Well, that's all of them." Tadra observed as he glanced at the younglings "We should move out before the Separatists show up, they always try and capture soldiers fresh out of their escape pods."

"Good idea, come on younglings, we're leaving." Torch informed the children as he helped Arikki onto an eopie, where a wide catcher was in place in order to carry the infants.

The girl shrieked happily, clearly enjoying herself as Torch visibly bristled.

"He doesn't have much skill when it comes to dealing with younglings, does he?" Molkir whispered to Yulo.

"No he does not." Yulo agreed as Torch struggled to hold onto Mas, who was struggling about within the Commander's arms, as he tried to break free. Yulo muttered something else, before walking off to help Torch get a squirming Arla on to an eopie; she seemed to be quite reluctant to part with Holdus.

"Well, it looks like all of the infants are present and accounted for, Generals." Torch said, having finished helping to load them onto the eopie.

"Very good, Commander, we have done a very good thing today. We should take them to the closest spaceport before any Separatist forces show up. I'll arrange a shuttle or a freighter to take them to Coruscant." Tadra said as he mounted his own eopie, pulling out his com-link as he did so.

"With any luck, by the time they become Jedi, the war will have ended." Yulo said as he urged his mount to go forward.

"We can hope, Yulo, we can hope." Tadra said, nodding his head.

And at that, the group began their trek back towards the spaceport.

* * *

A few hours later, the group still had not finished their journey. They had found themselves slowed down somewhat by a combination of making detours in order to round up more survivors from their escape pods and dealing with the infants so that their noises would not give away their position to any listening Separatist forces.

"At this rate it'll be another three days before we even get halfway back." Hound muttered in clear annoyance.

"Have patience, we'll be there soon." Torch reassured his brother, although secretly he too was somewhat irritated.

Ahead of them, the RTT took point in case of any ambushes. Just behind the vehicle were the Jedi and their young charges, lumbering along slowly on their eopie mounts.

"How much further is it, Master?" Molkir asked as he glanced around the area "I'm starting to get a little edgy out here. It's far too open for my tastes."

"We still have a ways to go yet, Padawan. We must simply settle for being patient and alert." Tadra said, noting that Molkir's hand was near his lightsaber.

"I have to agree with Molkir, Tadra." Yulo spoke up; looking somewhat weary "Something doesn't seem to be quite right."

"Do you feel a disturbance in the Force?" Tadra asked, feeling something similar.

Yulo looked uneasy "I can't quite figure out what it is, but I can feel something ominous."

Tadra nodded in response, his own hand reaching cautiously for his lightsaber "Then we must be cautious. Danger could be lurking anywhere, ready to strike."

Behind them, Torch realised that his com-link was going off. Reaching for it, he activated it and was greeted by the tiny holographic image of Sate Pestage "Sir." Torch addressed Pestage.

"Commander, the time has come, execute Order 66." Pestage said sternly.

"Yes, sir, it will be done." Torch said, nodding.

"I understand that you are transporting a group of Force sensitive younglings?" Pestage queried.

Torch nodded again "That is correct, sir. Infants to be precise, to be taken back to Coruscant for training in the Jedi ways. Do we have orders to eliminate them as well?"

Besides him, Hound shot Torch a surprised look.

Pestage, however, shook his head "Negative, Commander. You are to bring them back alive, by personal order of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. He has need of their...unique skills."

Torch was puzzled, why would the Chancellor want seventeen Force sensitive infants? Nevertheless, he held his tongue; it was not his place to question the orders of the Supreme Leader of the Grand Army of the Republic. Instead, he nodded once more "Very well, sir, the Supreme Chancellor's orders will be carried out. I will make sure of it."

Without another word, the image of Pestage flickered and died. Torch looked to his men "Right, you heard him, you know what this means. Be very careful when you deal with them, their lightsabers are vicious."

"What about the RTT, sir?" Hound asked.

Torch shook his head "Too risky, we can't afford to hit the younglings, the Chancellor would have all our heads. No, we're just going to have to do this one the old fashioned way." Torch said as he brought out a DC-17 blaster pistol.

The Jedi were puzzled as the RTT ahead of them slowed to a stop. A few seconds later, all fourteen of the clone troopers who were aboard it came pouring out, while the mounted clones got off of their eopies.

"Commander Torch? What is going on?" A confused Tadra asked, looking around at the clones under his command.

"Fire." Was all Torch said as he and his fellow clone troopers all proceeded to launch an assault on their former allies.

Instinctively, the Jedi all pulled out their lightsabers and activated them, trying to repel the incoming volley of blaster shots. Three lightsaber blades sprang to life, two green and one blue. Alone it would have been a difficult task, but for three Jedi it was achievable. Besides, they knew that they were not just fighting for themselves, but also for the infants that they had been charged with escorting to safety.

"Torch, are you out of your mind?-!" Molkir exclaimed in shock as he deflected an incoming shot harmlessly into the air.

"Wish it didn't have to be this way, Commander." Torch murmured as he pulled out a second pistol and continued to fire.

The battle surely would have continued, had a group of Dimockian militiamen and Separatist battle droids not suddenly burst into the clearing and start firing.

"No! Not crinking now!" Torch shouted out in frustration as he was forced to swing around and open fire on the newcomers.

"Quickly, get into the RTT! I'll handle the younglings!" Tadra shouted to Molkir and Yulo.

"But, Master-!" Molkir protested.

"Go, Molkir!" Tadra roared as he rushed to undo the ropes fastening the catcher to the eopie as the younglings wailed in alarm.

"Come along, Molkir! We have to let him do this!" Yulo said as he grabbed Molkir by his arm and forcibly dragged him into the vehicle.

Grabbing the catcher with the Force, Tadra quickly followed his fellow Jedi into the RTT, setting the younglings onto the ground. Having rescued the infants, he rushed to get into the pilot's seat.

"Yulo, you take the gunner's position! Molkir, I want you to see to the younglings, they're quite distressed." Tadra said calmly as he powered up the RTT and began to drive it to safety.

With a grim certainty, Tadra knew that if their clone troopers had turned on them, then surely they would be doing so to all of the Jedi.

* * *

A few minutes after the fighting began; it stopped just as quickly as it had started. The clones stood over the dead Separatists as the handful of survivors fled back to where they had come from.

"Who do we pursue, Commander?" Hound asked, glaring in the direction of the cowardly Separatists.

Torch looked up, his attention momentarily caught by a slain militiaman "We'll go after the Jedi first; they're more of a threat. We'll need reinforcements first. Mount up while I call for backup!"

At that, the surviving clone troopers clambered onto their eopies and rushed off the follow the Jedi. Those that had been in the RTT had to run to keep pace with their fellow clone troopers.

* * *

"What do we do now, Master?" Molkir asked, having finally succeeded in quieting down the younglings.

"Now we must flee far from this planet, Molkir. In fact, I fear that we will have to flee far from civilised space just to escape this threat." Tadra said gravelly.

Yulo's eyes widened in shock "Tadra, surely you can't be serious!"

Tadra looked sternly at his friend "I'm afraid I am, Yulo. Think! If our clone troopers are turning against us, then there's a very likely possibility that all of them are turning on their Jedi Generals."

Molkir slumped down in a nearby seat "They'll be butchered like cattle!"

"Have faith, Molkir, I'm sure others have managed to survive." Yulo said reassuringly.

Tadra did not look convinced "Nevertheless, we must be pragmatic. We must be prepared for the worst possible outcome. My friends, it may be possible that we are the last three Jedi still active."

Molkir looked physically ill at that statement, while Yulo balked "Tadra, surely-!"

"As I said, Yulo, we must assume the worst. If we truly are the last remnants of the Jedi, then we need to prepare. We shall have to flee deep into Wild Space." Tadra said.

"And what of the infants, Master?" Molkir asked, sparing a glance at the younglings that they had rescued, who were presently napping.

"They must be taught in the ways of the Jedi Order. If our teachings survive, then so will the Jedi." Tadra said, looking thoughtfully at the younglings.

Suddenly, the RTT jolted violently, throwing Molkir off of his seat. The infants woke up and started wailing in fright.

"Blast! They found us!" Tadra exclaimed.

And it was true; Tadra looked out of the view screen to see a number of speeder bikes pursuing their escape vehicle.

"By the Force! Look at that!" Yulo gasped, pointing to the sky.

Tadra felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he caught sight of an LAAT flying up to them, no doubt packed to the gills with clone troopers rearing to take down the Jedi.

"Yulo, get back to the weapons placements. Take them down." Tadra said as he retook the controls of the RTT.

Yulo did as he was told to do and targeted the LAAT. Lining up his shot, he fired two missiles at it. The LAAT banked hard to the right in order to avoid the shots, before it fired at the jungle in front of them.

"That was nowhere near us!" Molkir exclaimed.

"Destroying us was not their intent. They seem to be preoccupied with cutting us off." Tadra replied as he swerved to avoid a downed tree that had been knocked into their path.

"But why would they do that, unless they wanted us ali-?" Yulo broke off in mid-sentence, his eyes turning to face the younglings.

Tadra was horrified "By the Force...We need to get them out of here as quickly as possible!"

* * *

Outside, Torch was leading the pursuit from a speeder bike, his underslung blaster cannon spitting death at the RTT. It would certainly not be enough to destroy the vehicle, but with any luck it might be able to disable it.

"Bring it down! Do whatever you have to, as long as it doesn't kill those infants!" Torch barked into his com-link.

Besides him, Hound-also riding a speeder bike-nodded and continued to fire on the escaping Jedi vessel.

_There can be no escape for you this time_, Torch thought as he glared from under his helmet.

* * *

"Blast!" Tadra cursed as hit after hit rocked the craft, slowly chipping away at their shields.

"Master, what do we do?" A fretful Molkir asked as he wrung his hands.

An idea suddenly came to Tadra "Molkir, take the helm." At that he stood up and went to the nearest exit hatch.

Molkir quickly rushed into the pilot's chair and steadied the RTT, before turning to glance at his Master "Master, what are you-?"

"Now, open the door, Molkir." Tadra interrupted, speaking calmly.

"But-!" Molkir tried to exclaim.

"Better do what he says, Molkir." Yulo broke in this time "He's got a plan."

Looking apprehensive, Molkir nevertheless opened the door in front of Tadra. The Elomin Jedi carefully walked down the ramp, before turning and leaping up onto the roof of the RTT. He crouched, steadying himself, before standing and pulling out his lightsaber, the emerald blade humming softly.

Tadra brought out his com-link and spoke: "Yulo, fire two more missiles at the LAAT."

"Roger." Was all Yulo said before he carried out his order.

Two more missiles streaked towards the LAAT, which was now strafing them. Once more, it nimbly avoided them, but this time, Tadra was there. Reaching out with the Force, he pulled the missiles out of the air. Gripping onto them, Tadra proceeded to redirect them.

Straight into the LAAT.

The first missile slammed into the infantry bay, instantly killing the troopers who were inside it. The second slammed into the nose. To Tadra's surprise, the pilot and co-pilot managed to eject just in time, flames licking at their escape pod as it careened somewhere into the jungle. Now pilotless and badly, the LAAT was swerving crazily through the air. Tadra used all of his strength to grab onto the LAAT, before turning it into an improvised missile. Pushing with all of his strength, Tadra turned and threw the damaged LAAT, straight into the hordes of pursuing speeder bikes.

"Crink!" An alarmed Torch swore as he swerved madly to avoid the incoming vehicle, accidentally striking a downed tree and being sent tumbling off of the bike.

Hound and a few other lucky clone troopers were also able to avoid the LAAT. The brunt of the speeder bike force, however, was not so fortunate, as many were struck by the LAAT as it rolled repeatedly off of the ground.

"Commander! Commander, are you alright?" Hound asked, pulling his speeder bike to a stop and searching for his leader.

Torch groaned as he looked up into the sky through a cracked visor. Luckily for him, the armour had soaked up most of the damaged of his little spill, but he hurt all over, and he was pretty sure his left arm was broken. As it was, he felt too sore to even call out.

"Over here!" Clone trooper Backlash called out, finding his Commander's body.

"Stang! Hurry up and call in a medivac!" Hound called out to the communications officer "Don't worry, Commander, we'll get them."

"Make them pay for what they did to us! They killed our brothers, they must pay!" Torch whispered, gripping onto Hound's chest plate and pulling him forwards.

Hound nodded "We will, Commander. Don't worry, we will."

* * *

Kilometres away, Molkir slumped into his seat, exhausted after that harrowing chase. Tadra swung in through the open door and placed a reassuring hand on Molkir's shoulder. The fight had caused quite a bit of damage to the RTT, completely crippling it, ensuring that they would be going nowhere for a while.

"You did very well, Molkir." Tadra said to his Padawan.

"And what about me, my friend? I fired the missiles after all." Yulo pointed out, a grin on his face.

Tadra nodded "Of course, you were also very helpful. I thank you for that Yulo."

"What do we do now, Master?" Molkir asked.

"We're still going to the spaceport, Molkir, we have to-" Yulo began.

"No." Tadra interrupted, shaking his head slowly.

"No? What do you mean "no"? Tadra, we have to get these younglings to safe-!" Yulo started again, only to once more be interrupted.

"We cannot do that anymore. It's too dangerous. I see now that the clones will never stop pursuing us." Tadra said gravelly.

"Then what do we do, Master?" Molkir asked nervously.

Tadra looked sadly at his Padawan "You will go to the spaceport, Molkir and take the younglings off of this planet. You must take them somewhere safe where whoever is orchestrating this never gets their hands on them."

Molkir looked shocked "But, Master, I thought you said-!"

"I said that _we _couldn't go to the spaceport, Molkir," Tadra broke in, motioning to himself and Yulo "It would pose too great a risk if we were to all go. Molkir, I want you to do something very important for me. Take the younglings, there should be a trolley in the back you can carry them all on and take them to the spaceport. Then leave somewhere far away where they'd never think to look for you."

Molkir's eyes widened in alarm "But, Master, what of you?"

Tadra sighed "Yulo and I must stay behind. We'll hold them off for as long as possible so that you can get away."

Yulo nodded, agreeing with his friend's plan.

"But...No! You can't! You'll die! Who will teach the younglings in the ways of the Jedi Order?" A panicking Molkir asked.

"You, of course." Tadra said softly "You are capable Molkir, I know that you are. They will not have a finer instructor."

"I can't do it alone, Master." Molkir whispered.

"You can, Molkir, we have faith in you." Yulo said in his most reassuring tone of voice.

Molkir looked down at his feet, unsure of himself, before looking up to face his Master and Yulo. He took in a deep breath and tried to look confident "I will do my best, Masters."

Yulo nodded "We know that you will, Molkir."

"There is one last matter, Molkir. Turn around." Tadra said as he reached for his lightsaber.

Molkir did so, and then heard a humming noise. There was a quick flash of green light and Molkir felt a rush of air on the back of his neck.

"You can turn around now, Molkir." Yulo said.

Molkir obeyed and turned to face the two Masters. In one hand, Tadra clutched onto his deactivated lightsaber. In the other hand, opened and outstretched, was Molkir's Padawan braid.

"Congratulations, Molkir, you are now a Jedi Knight." Yulo said, a tiny smile on his face.

"Fifteen seems too young to be a Jedi Knight..." Molkir mumbled.

Tadra nodded "I know but given the circumstances I'm sure that you'll cope."

Molkir nodded "Thank you, Master."

"You should leave now, before any more clones show up." Tadra said. As Molkir turned to go, Tadra added "Molkir?"

Molkir turned "Yes, Master?"

"May the Force be with you, my Padawan." Tadra said.

Molkir nodded "And with you, Masters."

* * *

The next day, Torch and Hound soon arrived, backed by an entire company of clone troopers. Torch's arm was in a cast, but he didn't care, he was determined to fight alongside his men, despite his injury. Before they were to attack, Torch addressed his men, Hound standing right beside him.

"Men of Whirlwind Company, we are about to face a dangerous enemy today. The traitors to the Republic, our former generals, the Jedi! It will be difficult, yes, but I know that this time we will be able to defeat them!" Torch exclaimed as he paced in front of his soldiers, who let out a massive cry.

"We should spread out in order to cover more ground." Hound suggested.

"A dangerous tactic, Hound, but given that we need to find them as soon as possible, we may have no other choice." Torch said.

At that, the clone troopers began to separate into smaller groups as they started their sweep of the area in search of their elusive Jedi foe. The group had not gotten far when they heard a piercing cry, followed by the sound of blaster fire, which tapered off alarmingly quickly.

"The Jedi!" Hound exclaimed, pulling out a DC-15S blaster rifle.

"Stay alert, men, they're nearby!" Torch barked as he drew his sidearm.

Another scream and more blaster fire, this time to their left. Torch whirled around, only to see his brothers and trees which obscured his view of the surrounding area. Torch cursed at this, yet continued forward. Suddenly, there was a whir of green in front of him, and another clone trooper was struck down.

"It's the Jedi! Fire, fire!" Hound ordered as he raised his own weapon.

Sure enough, Tadra Kren was rushing towards the group, his lightsaber slashing madly through the air to deflect blaster bolts and fell any unfortunate clone trooper who was in his path.

"Take him down!" Torch commanded as he raised his pistol to fire on his former commander...

...Only to be suddenly knocked off of his feet, as if he had been shoved by an invisible hand. Looking up, Torch could see Yulo rush towards Tadra, effortlessly cutting down any clone that got in the way. He was a blur of blue and green as he hacked his way through the clones, almost like a skilled dancer.

"Hello, Commander." Yulo said as the pair approached the downed clones.

"By order of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, you are to be executed immediately." Torch said gravely as he tried to get back to his feet, only for Tadra to push them back to the ground with a mere gesture of his hand.

Tadra exclaimed a surprised glance with Yulo. _Palpatine? So he was behind this?_

"You know that we won't just lie down and let you kill us?" Tadra asked.

"I know, and I wouldn't have it any other way." Torch said, clicking the hammer of his pistol.

"Very well, shall we begin?" Tadra asked, his eyes narrowed at the clones.

"Yes, sir." Torch replied acidly, before he opened fire on his former leaders.

The shot was deflected effortlessly back, striking another clone trooper. The other clone troopers quickly got back to their feet and chipped in with their own blasters, firing wildly at the Jedi duo. The Jedi deflected many of the bolts back to the troopers, before they ran off again, back into the jungle.

"Split up!" Tadra shouted to Yulo, who nodded in response.

Tadra ran to the left while Yulo leapt off to the right, deftly dodging the clone's fire. Yulo unleashed a massive Force push as he did so, knocking many more of the clone troopers off of their feet.

"Find them, we cannot allow them to escape!" Torch ordered, getting to his feet.

The clones wearily began to search once more for the Jedi. They heard a loud cry from above them. One clone looked up and was immediately cut down from shoulder to stomach as Yulo struck. The other clones managed to push past their shock and horror in order to open fire, only for Yulo to leap back into the trees. Using the opportunity, Tadra leapt out from some nearby cover and swiftly decapitated the clone closest to him, before impaling another as he tried to turn.

"This is turning out to be a bloodbath!" Hound noted with anger.

"This can't continue. Hound, I think that it's time to bring out the big guns." Torch said.

Hound nodded "Very good, sir."

Soon, the clones began to bring out their heavy equipment. Reciprocating blasters, quad laser cannons, missile launchers were handed out and even a number of flame troopers were there to back them up. Accompanying them were All Terrain Personal Transports, All Terrain Attack Pods and TX-130 Saber-class Fighter Tanks, while in the sky, LAATs flew about to help the clones in their pursuit. Lumbering behind the group were a number of All Terrain Open Transports, ferrying in more troopers.

"Well, it looks like they're serious in stopping us, Tadra." Yulo noted from his perch in a tree.

"Indeed, it would appear so, Yulo. I only hope that we are able to hold them off long enough for Molkir and the younglings to get to safety." Tadra said.

"Want to get their attention?" Yulo asked.

"Certainly, how would we do that?" Tadra asked.

Yulo smiled "You see that LAAT up there?"

Tadra looked up to see the one that Yulo was reffering to, before nodding "What did you have in mind?"

"We're going to pull it down!"

Tadra was quite frankly amazed that all of this was happening, only days before they had been fighting alongside the clones, not against them. Nevertheless, Tadra knew that it would have to be done if they were to ensure Molkir's safety. Tadra simply nodded in response, before turning his attention to the LAAT.

* * *

Torch and Hound were combing the jungle, hoping that their search would end soon. Hound was now carrying a PLX-1 portable missile launcher, which was strapped firmly to his back, in addition to his blaster rifle. As the two were marching along, Torch's com-link suddenly chirped to life.

"Mayday! Mayday! This is LAAT, _Raquor'daan's Sting_! We're going down, but we're not suffering any problems! It' the Jedi!" The LAAT pilot cried out.

"Pilot, eject immediately! Eject!" Torch shouted into the com-link.

"Negative! If we eject then our vehicle will crash into the troops!" The pilot responded.

Torch exhaled "Try to regain control!"

"We're trying to level out, but-!" The pilot abruptly screamed, before the communication cut out, followed by an explosion.

"Stang!" Torch cursed.

Despite the best efforts of the pilots, the _Raquor'daan's Sting _had crashed. While they had managed to avoid the majority of the clone troopers on the ground, they had still crashed into an AT-AP, destroying it and killing at least a dozen troopers.

"Sir, we found the co-pilot!" Backlash cried as he and another clone trooper helped to support the badly injured co-pilot "He's in critical condition, he needs a medical droid immediately!"

Torch nodded "I'll call in a medivac for him. Everyone else, get back to the search!"

It was at that point that Yulo burst out of cover and quickly killed another two clone troopers with a quick flourish of his lightsaber hand. Acting quickly, he rushed forward and attacked three more clones.

They would prove to be the last clones that Yulo would kill.

A missile flew towards Yulo at incredible speeds. Taken aback, Yulo instinctively raised his lightsaber, as if to deflect the missile back. It was a fatal mistake, and the subsequent explosion sent Yulo flying. His badly burned corpse lay a few meters away, his lightsaber completely destroyed by the blast. Torch looked behind him to see Hound standing nearby, the barrel of his missile launcher still smoking.

"Got him." Hound said simply as he lowered the missile launcher.

"No!" Tadra cried out in horror from a nearby tree branch, which he quickly leapt out of in order to engage the clones.

"Blast him!" Torch ordered as he fired his pistol.

Tadra managed to deflect quite a number of blaster bolts back at his attackers, killing many. However, he soon found that he was overwhelmed by the sheer number of clones. Bravely, he held his ground. When the killing shot connected, Torch found that he held a grudging respect for his fallen enemy.

"Commander, that's the generals taken care of. Where's the Commander?" Hound asked.

Torch looked up from Tadra's blaster ridden corpse "No doubt he's protecting the younglings. We should hurry, he may flee."

* * *

Soon, the group stumbled upon the disabled RTT.

"It looks like we did more damage than we thought, Commander." Backlash noted as he ran his hand over a blaster scored panel.

"Quiet, we don't want him to hear us!" Torch hissed.

"Hear that?" Hound whispered.

There was a strange noise coming from inside the RTT. The clones exchanged glances as they wearily went in.

"No sign of the Jedi." Hound noted.

"Perhaps he fled?" Torch suggested.

"Commander, over here!" Backlash said, waving the other clones over.

There was a large blanket covering the floor. There were a number of shapes under it.

"The younglings?" Backlash asked.

"He left them here?" A surprised Hound said.

"Saved his own skin, the coward." Torch said with disgust.

The strange noise was coming from under the blanket. Torch reached down to pull it off of the younglings...

...And saw a number of dismembered battle droids lying in a heap. They were groaning in obvious discomfort.

"What the-?" An astonished Torch exclaimed.

"Jedi...ambushed us..." One of the battle droids muttered, motioning to his severed legs with his one remaining hand.

"C-c-c-carried us in here-re-re...s-s-said we were b-b-bait." Another battle droid, this one missing half of his head stammered.

Torch was furious "Find him! We have to get to him, now!"

* * *

In the spaceport, Molkir carried a trolley which held all of the younglings behind him. He walked up to a Ghtroc class 580 Light Freighter, which was supposed to have taken the younglings back to Coruscant. Standing besides it was an alien which Molkir likened to a bipedal dianoga. He looked up upon Molkir's approach.

"You the Jedi I'm supposed to be meeting?" The alien asked.

Molkir nodded in response "Y-yes, that's right."

The alien held out his hand, which had long, skeletal fingers "Captain Ag Cyyngu." He withdrew his hand when Molkir made no effort to reach it "And you want me to take those younglings back to Coruscant?"

Molkir shook his head "A-actually, there's been a change in plans..."

Ag sighed in exasperation "A change in plans?" He repeated "Well that's just wonderful! I'm already behind on delivering mining equipment to Artus Prime and now you're telling me that there's been a change in plans? What now then?"

"I want you to take me along with the younglings. Take us to Artus Prime." Molkir said.

Ag looked puzzled "Artus Prime? That sounds awfully convenient. Are you in some kind of trouble, kid?"

Molkir looked desperate "Please, you have to take us! I'll pay you extra!" Molkir pleaded.

"Whoa, take it easy, kid! Alright, fine, I'll take you to Artus Prime."

Molkir let out a sigh of relief "Thank you, Captain Cyyngu."

"No problem. Now, get aboard, I want to ship out as soon as possible."

A few minutes later, the group departed. Molkir could only hope that they would finally be safe on Artus Prime.

* * *

And that's the end of the first chapter. Captain Cyyngu is the same species as Cy Yunga, the podracer from the game, Star Wars I: Racer. Cyyngu's name is just an anagram of Cy Yunga. Next chapter will feature one of Dooku's Dark Acolytes; a former Bpfasshi Jedi named Kanar Revv as he struggles with guilt over his defection. I hope that you enjoyed the chapter, please remember to leave a review and finally...thanks for reading!


	2. Bad Feelings

Hello and welcome to Surviving, Chapter 2. As promised, this chapter will deal with the Dark Jedi, Kanar Revv as he struggles with his decision to defect. This chapter actually takes places a little while before the first one, by a few weeks, so Order 66 hasn't been initiated yet. I don't own Star Wars, but I do own my OCs. I hope that you enjoy the following chapter, please remember to review and finally...thanks for reading!

* * *

Date: 19 BBY

Location: Hyperspace

The Bpfasshi Jedi-_well, former Jedi_, he thought to himself-Kanar Revv sat in silence and darkness as he waited for his moment. It was proving to be a very uncomfortable wait as he sat in the cramped confines of the container, as he had been doing for the past few hours. How the Separatists had managed to smuggle twenty-one or so crates onto Coruscant was a mystery to Kanar, but he had managed to accomplish it somehow. Kanar and the twenty battle droids that were accompanying him were laying in wait in order to assassinate Jedi Master Kayo Reither and the two clone trooper squads that were with him, Gurreck and Nereid squads. The purpose of this mission was to infiltrate the neutrally aligned planet of Eirrauus under the guise of Reither and his men in order sabotage any defences that the native Eirraucs might have so that Kanar could successfully pave the way for a Separatist invasion force.

"A lot of good that's going to do them considering how the war's been going so far." Kanar muttered glumly.

As he often did when he had free time, Kanar lamented as to how he had gotten himself into his present situation. _This wasn't supposed to happen! I was supposed to be an artisan! _Kanar thought bitterly. Kanar's mind drifted back to that horrible, wretched day when his life had changed for the worse...

* * *

Location: Pzob

Date: 22 BBY

"Kanar? What are you doing?" Kanar's Master, a reptilian Hortek by the name of Gallus Sturne had asked.

"I'm creating lightsabers, Master. I think I'm getting close to perfecting it." Kanar said as he held up his latest masterpiece.

It was a beautiful lightsaber, there was no disputing it. The hilt was made of a hard, crystalline substance, showing its inner workings; three gold rings were around the beam emitter, one on top of the other, opening only just wide enough to allow the blade to come out unobstructed and jutting out of the bottom of the hilt was a tiny yet intricately detailed gold globe of Bpfassh.

Gallus nodded in appreciation "A fine lightsaber, Kanar, it will go well with the two dozen you've already made."

Kanar smiled as he gazed at the wall were his other lightsabers were displayed. They were all ornately crafted, possessing highly unique designs. Some possessed decorative runes or illustrations while some had been crafted out of various minerals or bone. The one that Kanar was particularly proud of was his lightsaber bident, a lightsaber with two beam emitters located side by side.

"Thank you, Master. I wish you would let me make one for you. I mean no disrespect, but yours is awfully dull." Kanar said as he gave a disdainful glance at his Master's lightsaber.

Gallus gave a slight chuckle as he reached for his lightsaber "You place too much emphasis on appearance, Kanar. Your lightsabers may be elegant, but mine is practical, even if it is as you say, dull."

"Oh, Master, I'm sure that many other Jedi would love it if I crafted lightsabers for them. I know Alyss did." Kanar said, reffering to his closest friend, the Mirialan Jedi, Alyss Vrax. Kanar smiled fondly at the memory, he had managed to acquire some coral from Glee Anselm and had used it to craft a magnificent lightsaber. Alyss had absolutely lit up when he had handed her the lightsaber, as a replacement for one which had been destroyed.

The conversation would have likely continued on had a sudden explosion not rattled the lightsabers mounted on the walls. The clone trooper commander who had been assigned to the two Jedi, Commander Goblin rushed into the command centre. Goblin was dressed in the standard clone trooper armour, with yellow markings to denote his rank as commander. In addition, he had a pair of Jaig eyes painted onto his helmet, two stripes running under his visor and a rangefinder. As well as the additions to his helmet, his left shoulder pad was also much larger than his right one, mimicking the style used by the Senate Commandos.

"General Sturne, Commander Revv, come quickly! We're being ambushed by Separatist forces!" Goblin exclaimed as another explosion almost toppled the unfortunate clone commander over.

"Stang! Quickly, Kanar, we must repel this invasion! This world is too valuable to lose!" Gallus exclaimed as he activated his lightsaber and ran through the door, ready for combat.

Kanar, however, hesitated. He firmly believed that an artist had no place in battle, that was the work of a soldier, not a Jedi artisan! Nevertheless, after a brief pause, he rushed after his Master, sure that if all else failed, Sturne would at least protect him.

Outside, it was pure chaos. Explosions rang out, blaster bolts were flying everywhere and dozens of Separatist battle cruisers hung in the sky. Kanar's apple-green lightsaber blade sprang to life as hundreds, perhaps thousands of battle droids marched into the camp. Ahead of him, Gallus, Goblin and the men of the 489th Outer Corps were rushing to defend their position from the oncoming droid hordes. Both sides fired in volleys and both sides were already suffering some serious casualties. The clones had erected a simple barricade using a number of heavy, metal crates. The Separatists, however, just seemed to keep coming no matter how many were taken out by a well placed shot, whereas the number of clone troopers just kept dwindling. Aiding the droids was a sizeable force of Gamorrean mercenaries, natives who had signed on with the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

"General Sturne, we're taking heavy casualties!" Goblin exclaimed as he took down four B1 battle droids with a few precise shots.

"I know, Goblin, but have faith in the Force. I know that we can turn this around." Gallus said calmly as he deflected a blaster bolt straight into the body of a B2 super battle droid, his olive coloured lightsaber a blur.

"What can we do, Master? There's too many of them, we're outnumbered!" Kanar cried, panic creeping into his voice.

"Calm yourself, Kanar! We can win this!" Gallus said, his voice firm and confident "Follow my lead!"

And at that, Gallus leapt over the crude fortifications that the clones had made and dashed into the fray, his lightsaber a whirling death machine. Kanar hesitated once more, his fear threatening to take over. He shook his head in order to clear his thoughts, _No, I can do this! I won't be afraid! _Filled with newfound courage, Kanar followed his Master into combat, striking down a number of droids with quick slashes of his blade.

"C'mon, men, let's give the General and the Commander some cover!" Goblin shouted as he fired a volley of shots with his blaster rifle.

The other clone troopers rushed forward in order to aid the two Jedi in their fight. Had Kanar and Gallus been ordinary fighters, they would have undoubtedly been cut to ribbons by their own friendly fire, but due to their Jedi training, they were easily able to duck, weave and avoid the clones shots and could concentrate on their foes. The Jedi fought their way through the seemingly endless number of droids, cutting them down quickly, mechanical limbs flying. Behind the two, the clones continued to shoot, downing more and more droids.

"I don't believe it, Master! We're turning the tide!" Kanar cried out enthusiastically, and for a moment, he actually believed that they could win.

And then, _he _appeared.

Gallus tilted his head to the side in confusion "I sense something, something..."

And that was when he struck. He charged forward at full speed, two lightsabers lit, both raised to strike. As he moved to cut down the Hortek Jedi Master, Gallus parried in the nick of time. Behind the Jedi, the clones let out cries of shock and horror.

"No! Not him!"

"It's...It's..."

"General Grievous!" Goblin exclaimed, lowering his rifle in his surprise.

And so it was, the mechanical monstrosity who had recently slaughtered four Jedi on Hypori was currently locking lightsabers with Gallus, who was fighting furiously to keep his position. The droids stopped trying to concentrate on the Jedi and now moved to deal with the clones, who were now thoroughly demoralised by the mere sight of Grievous.

"You think that you can kill me, droid?" Gallus asked.

Grievous' eyes flared up in rage "How dare you call me a droid, Jedi scum?-! For that, I will make you suffer!"

Kanar stood paralysed in fear as his Master duelled with Grievous. What could he possibly do? If he did nothing, then his Master would be killed. Yet if he attempted to intervene, then Kanar himself would surely be killed. What could he do?

Despite his prowess with a lightsaber, Gallus soon found himself wearing down. Grievous might not have been a Jedi, but he certainly knew how to wield a lightsaber and he had the raw strength to back up his skills. Each blow was a powerhouse of energy that sent Gallus, who stood at almost two meters in height, reeling back. It seemed that all he could do was defend himself from Grievous. He parried frequently, but each attempt at defence made him weaker and weaker.

"Kanar, help me!" Gallus cried out.

But Kanar found himself rooted to the spot, too terrified to even move. His mouth hung open in shock at the sight of his Master losing. He was sweating profusely as the gravity of the situation began to set in. _We're in a war! By the Force, I could die! But I'm supposed to be an artisan, not a soldier! An artisan!_

Gallus was panting now, almost all of his energy used up simply countering Grievous' blows. His lightsaber was lower than it should have been.

"The time has come to end this. Goodbye, Jedi scum." Grievous said calmly.

And in that moment, Kanar's whole world shattered.

Grievous plunged both of his lightsabers into Gallus' chest, before wrenching them into separate directions, ripping Gallus apart. Kanar's eyes widened in terror and he let out a piercing cry of anguish and horror. Grievous' eyes turned to Kanar. _Now that the Master has been dealt with, it's time to deal with his Padawan..._ Grievous thought as he slowly advanced on the trembling Bpfasshi.

Goblin, meanwhile, was beginning to find himself overwhelmed by the sheer number of the battle droid forces.

"Kriffing machines! All forces, fall back to the LAATs! Retreat, retreat!" Goblin ordered.

The surviving clone troopers ran back to the landing pads, fear giving them speed. Many of them were cut down as they fled.

"Attempting to escape? I think not." Grievous said, momentarily taking his attention off of Kanar.

Coming out of the forests were more droids. These ones however, were different. Banking Clan Hailfire droids, Heavy Anti-Air Super Battle droids and Baron battle droids rushed to join their fellows in combat. As the LAATs took off, they were quickly swatted from the sky.

"No, no!" Goblin cried out as he saw his brothers go down in fiery pieces of wreckage.

It was at that moment that his own escape craft was struck in the nose by a missile launched by a Baron battle droid and was sent plummeting back to the ground.

"And now that they are taken care of, it is time to take care of you, little Padawan." Grievous said menacingly as he walked towards Kanar, his lightsabers raised for combat.

Kanar took a step back. _No! I am not going to die here! Not like this!_ He took a deep breath and threw his cloak open, revealing a number of lightsabers attached to the front of his tunic. Using the Force, he took them out and activated them. Now he was utilising not just one lightsaber, but seven.

Grievous was clearly taken aback "What is this?"

Kanar did not reply, instead he let out a cry and rushed forward, all of his lightsabers poised to strike Grievous. Grievous blocked the two closest lightsabers, before hurrying to dodge the next.

"Impressive, little Jedi, yet it is not enough! Behold the full extent of my skills!" Grievous boasted.

At that, his arms split and he reached for an additional pair of lightsabers.

Kanar gasped in surprise "Impossible!"

Grievous chuckled "Evidently not, little Jedi. This body may be a curse, but it does admittedly have its advantages!"

At that, he lashed out, striking back at Kanar's lightsabers, beating them away almost effortlessly. Now Kanar was terrified once again. He had thought that his ability to wield multiple lightsabers through the Force had been an advantage, an ace in the hole. However, compared to Grievous, it was nothing! He backed away as Grievous advanced closer and closer, his lightsabers a flurry of destruction. Finally, Kanar found himself backed up against a tree. Grievous chuckled again as he batted the lightsabers away, before he grabbed Kanar's throat using his foot and easily raised the Bpfasshi Jedi up as if he were weightless.

"Goodbye, little Jedi." Grievous said as he began to squeeze.

Panic clutched at Kanar, terror made him blurt out his next words: "Wait! I wish to defect! I wish to defect!"

Grievous cocked his head to the side in amusement "Oh? You believe in the cause do you? Am I to assume that you are _not _interested in merely saving your own hide? I knew that you Jedi were weak and cowardly!"

"I can help you! Please!" Kanar pleaded.

"Indeed? How can you help me? Tell me why I shouldn't just kill you right here and now!" Grievous said and once again he tightened his grip on Kanar's throat.

"I can build you lightsabers! I am an expert on it! I can join Count Dooku's Dark Acolytes! You've seen what I can do!" Kanar shrieked.

Grievous seemed to consider it, before he released his hold on Kanar "I shall talk with the Count. We shall see what he has to say on the matter." Grievous motioned to a pair of FLTCH-series battle droids "You two, keep an eye on our "guest". If he attempts to escape, kill him."

Kanar gasped for air as he lay on the hard ground. He barely noticed the battle droids approach him, not until their shadows covered him. Grievous stalked off a short distance away and activated his com-link. Kanar waited anxiously as the General talked with the leader of the Separatist forces. After two minutes of waiting, Grievous returned and stood over the cowering, quivering Jedi.

"I have good news for you, little Jedi. The Count has decided that you would serve us better if I allowed you to live. Of course, you work for us now and if you try to contact the Republic, I will kill you myself. Am I clear?" Grievous asked, leaning in close until his mask was only centimetres away from Kanar's face.

Kanar found that he could not speak, so he nodded rapidly instead.

Grievous smiled with his eyes "Good, now, to other matters."

Grievous picked up Kanar and forcibly dragged him back to the Republic's base. Sitting in the centre of the camp were the few survivors of the attack. At the front was Goblin, his armour singed by flames and badly damaged in the crash. His helmet was off, revealing that his face had been lacerated and his right eye was blackened.

"General, these are all of the surviving clone troopers. What are your orders?" An OOM series battle droid commander asked.

Goblin stared up at Grievous defiantly, hatred burning in his eyes. He turned to face Kanar, the same piercing look, forcing Kanar to redirect his gaze, to Grievous. Grievous turned for a moment, and then whirled around, a lightsaber activated. With one swift motion, Goblin's severed head rolled away, much to the alarm of the other clone troopers, who let out cries of distress.

"What survivors?" Grievous asked, before deactivating his lightsaber and walking away.

Kanar never forgot that sight, nor did he forget the sound of dozens of blaster rifles going off simultaneously, cutting off the cries of his former men.

* * *

Kanar closed his eyes. That was how he had entered the services of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. That was how he had become one of Count Dooku's Dark Acolytes. The next three years of his life had been a living hell as he had been forced to fight against the Republic, forced to learn the ways of the Dark Side of the Force. Kanar had been beaten for his failures and none of the other Dark Jedi trusted him, knowing full well that he had only switched sides to save his own life. The one small relief was that for most of the war, Kanar had been kept out of the fighting, instead he performed guard duty on battle droid factories for the most part and constructed lightsabers and when he did fight, it was mostly on small, poorly defended worlds.

But now that was about to change. Dooku wanted him to assassinate not just a Jedi Master, but a Jedi Weapon Master. Kanar remembered what Dooku had said. His target was a member of the Lamproid species, they were very fast, very agile, very aggressive, very deadly. Not only was Kayo Reither armed with venomous saliva and an equally venomous stinger, but he was also proficient with a double bladed lightsaber and discblades. Dooku had outright told Kanar that he did not expect him to survive his encounter with Reither and his men. Nevertheless, Dooku had given Kanar a Taozin amulet in order to disguise his presence from the force and two squads of BX-series droid commandos, as well as a T-series tactical droid to aid him on his mission. As Kanar sat in the dark confines of the crate, he felt a thump. The shuttle that he and his forces were in was leaving the _Venator_-class star destroyer it was docked with. Kanar gulped, it was almost time.

* * *

"And, she's away." The Captain of the star destroyer, _Eye of the Storm_, said as General Reither's shuttle flew off, accompanied by two squadrons of ARC-170 starfighters.

It was to be a simple mission, inspect the defences of the planet Eirrauc and see if they could hold off the Separatists, perhaps call in a garrison of clone troopers if the planet needed to be reinforced. And yet...Captain Bedasi Xialo felt that something was off. After a moment, he shook it off as nothing more than mere paranoia.

* * *

Aboard the retrofitted _Charger_ c70 _Consular_-class cruiser known as the _Red Phantom_, Jedi Master Kayo Reither was on the bridge of the ship, alongside the pilots.

"Steady as she goes, Helmsman." Kayo said to clone pilot Eclipse.

Kayo Reither was typical for a Lamproid. He had a long, segmented body with grey-green skin, while yellow, ring-like spots lined his back. Lamproids usually did not wear clothes, but Kayo had chosen to wear specially made robes which covered his thorax and a belt to hold his weapons. Due to his status as a Jedi weapon's specialist, Kayo had chosen to wield a double bladed lightsaber, which had a circular hand guard that completely encompassed the hilt to protect its user's hands in combat. Also clipped to Kayo's belt were a number of razor sharp discblades, perfect for slicing into unarmoured flesh or the narrow limb joints of the battle droids.

"Aye, aye, General." Eclipse replied as he gracefully handled the ship, steering it through space.

As he stared out into space, Kayo could not help but be troubled by something. It was a faint feeling, yet it was persistent. Kayo braced himself for whatever was to come.

* * *

In the lounge of the ship, clone Commander Klaw flicked his wrist blades back and forth repeatedly. Klaw was a clone assassin, a very specialised breed of clone designed to deal with fighting Force sensitive opponents. To that end, he had been trained extensively in hand to hand and melee combat, with two retractable vibro-blades built into the arms of his armour. His helmet was different to most clones, instead of having a T-shaped visor; he had a single horizontal visor and a number of markings over his mouth. In addition, he had additional armour over his torso and a kama to protect his legs. Finally, as with all of the soldiers of the 382nd Corps, his armour was covered in charcoal coloured markings.

"Well, this is going to be a fun mission, right boys?" Klaw asked his men.

Sitting beside him was the leader of Gurreck Squad, sergeant CT-1317, Fang nodded "Oh yes, Commander, it'll be a blast." He said, his voice simply oozing sarcasm.

Fang was an experienced fighter and was decked out with weapons, such as a DC-15s blaster, a DC-15a and a special weapon that he had acquired on the battlefields of Kalee: A lig sword. Fang also had charcoal black markings, but in a different style to Klaw. Fang's resembled an animal's stripes and ran along his arms and legs. A stylised gurreck face adorned both of his shoulder plates and attached to his helmet was the lower jaw of a karabbac, also from Kalee. He had a history with Klaw, the two of them serving together as early as the Battle of Sarapin, where they had fought alongside Jedi Knight Jor Drakas, before being briefly taken prisoner by Separatist forces upon Drakas' death.

"What, you're saying that inspecting the defences of some backwater desert planet _isn't_ going to be exciting?" Klaw asked with mock surprise, still flipping his wrist blades.

"Oh no, I'm sure that it'll be _riveting_." Fang said as he polished his sword.

Klaw snorted "Well, with any luck the Seppies will give us a challenge when we get there."

* * *

In the cargo hold, Kanar exhaled, _It was time_.

With a snap-hiss, his lightsaber sprang to life and he cut a circular hole into his container, allowing him to escape. Acting quickly, he did the same for the containers that were concealing his forces. Twenty BX-series commando droids and a T-series tactical droid stood before the Dark Jedi.

"It is about time you made your move." TX-47 said curtly.

For the mission, TX had been painted almost entirely red; save for a few patches of gold on his shoulders and head and on his chest, the seal of the Galactic Senate had been painted on. Needless to say, TX had not been pleased.

"This was the soonest I could do. What do you want me to do, blow our cover while we were still aboard the star destroyer?" Kanar hissed in annoyance.

"Calm yourself, Kanar. There is no use getting upset, is there?" TeeEx said in a patronising way which infuriated Kanar.

"Whatever, let's just get moving." Kanar muttered, averting his gaze from the tactical droid.

"Are you familiar with the plan, Kanar? I ask because inferior organic beings such as yourself are known to have terrible memories." TeeEx said, coming as close to smirking as was physically possible for him.

"I know the plan, TeeEx! First we strike the communications so they can't call for help, then we hit the weapons systems so that our reinforcements can come and then-!" Kanar started, before TeeEx cut him off.

"No, no, no, Kanar, that is not what we do at all!" TeeEx tutted as he shook his head "After we disable their communications, we strike at their _engine systems _so that they cannot escape and _then _we can disable their weapons systems! It really is a marvel that you have managed to survive for so long without my guidance!"

Kanar fought off an overwhelming urge to decapitate the droid. If he did that, his own commando droids were liable to turn on him. Instead he bit his tongue.

"Fine, I'll do it in that order then, happy now?" Kanar asked.

"I'm never happy. Look at what I have to deal with." TeeEx said flatly, staring at Kanar.

"Whatever." Kanar said as he turned and walked off in order to disable the ship's communications systems "Lousy piece of scrap, telling me what to do, I oughta-!" Kanar muttered under his breath.

"I can still hear you, you know?" TeeEx asked.

Kanar bit back a curse as he exited the cargo hold.

* * *

Kanar tentatively poked his head through the door of the lift. Fortunately for him, there was no one in sight. He quickly darted though the (thankfully) empty crew lounge and made a beeline for the multi-comm station, with any luck, it would just be the communications officer he had to deal with. Suddenly, Kanar felt a powerful presence in the Force. He ducked behind a pile of cargo crates. The door to the navigator's station opened and Master Reither slithered out. Kanar held his breath as the Jedi Master went by. Once he cleared a corner, Kanar exhaled and resumed his mission. He quickly dashed into the comm station, where, to his fortune, the communications officer had his back turned to Kanar. Kanar slowly crept up behind the clone, one hand outstretched in order to cover his mouth, the other reaching for his bidentsabre, because if the clone was going to die, he might as well do so in _style_. The clone began to turn and quick as a flash, Kanar grabbed him, muffling his screams with one hand, before silencing them forever when his bidentsabre plunged into the clone's back and exited through his chest. He slumped over, lifeless. Kanar sighed in relief, now he just had to disable the communications and hide the body. Glancing over the station, Kanar found a small locker, just barely big enough to hold a corpse.

_And now for the next part of my mission_.

* * *

Kanar now crept into engine room, being weary of the three technicians who would undoubtedly be attending to the ship's inner workings. The first one was swiftly decapitated, his helmeted head rolling a short distance away before coming to a stop. The second one was stabbed directly in his eye, the flesh around it sizzling as a neat circular hole was burned through his skull. The final engineer was cautious, having heard the sounds that Kanar had made, but nevertheless, he too was quickly dispatched, just as he was reaching for his shotgun. Kanar stood over his lifeless corpse, examining the vertical gash he had made in the clone's body. Once this sight had sickened him, but now it barely made him feel anything. With his work done, he made to sabotage the engines.

* * *

In the cockpit, the clones that had been at their stations were now puzzled. All at once, they had not only lost their communications systems, but their engines as well.

"_Red Phantom_, why have you stopped? Are you experiencing difficulties?" The Squadron leader hailed.

Captain Binary was frustrated that he could not reply. He knew that this sudden series of malfunctions could not be a coincidence. He reached for his com-link.

"General, come in, we have a problem." Binary said gravelly.

* * *

As Kanar raced to get to the weapons systems, klaxons began wailing and bright red lights began to flash. _Stang! _He had been discovered! Kanar reached for his com-link, only for it to buzz to life.

"You were supposed to take out the targeted systems simultaneously!" TeeEx admonished.

"How could I have done that? I'm just one person!" Kanar hissed.

"We supplied you with detpacks for just such a purpose, or has your weak organic mind forgotten that detail?" TeeEx asked.

"Detpacks were unfeasible! They're too powerful, I could have blown a hole in the hull and spaced us all!" Kanar said, anger starting to seep into his voice.

"Doubtful, I calibrated them myself; they would have gone off successfully. Of course, this is now all irrelevant. Wait for us to assist you, no doubt you'll need our help." TeeEx said spitefully.

Before Kanar could make a retort, TeeEx abruptly shut off his com-link. Kanar cursed, one of these days he was going to have to scrap that droid. Hopefully it would be soon.

* * *

Klaw stopped flicking his blades as the alarms began to sound "Well, it looks like we're going to see some excitement after all!"

"About time." Fang said as he sheathed his sword and brought out his carbine.

* * *

The two squad of clone troopers marched through the ship, searching for any possible intruders.

"Oi, Insect! Get out, we got a job to do!" Clone trooper Whirlwind shouted as he banged on the door to CT-3456, also known as Insect's quarters.

"Whatever it is, can it' wait? My Alderaanian woolly caterpillars are about to cocoon themselves!" Insect called through the door.

Whirlwind sighed. Insect was a good trooper, certainly, but sometimes Whirlwind thought that his bizarre fascination with entomology distracted him from warfare. When the war was over, he'd probably go live on Charros IV or Felucia or some strange planet just _crawling _with bugs.

"No, it can't! We've got a potential stowaway onboard sabotaging the ship!" Whirlwind said as he continued to bang the door.

Through the door, Insect sighed "Alright, just let me set up a holo-cam so I can watch this later."

Whirlwind tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for his friend to finish. After a minute, the door opened, revealing the clone. He had the standard markings of Gurreck Squad, as well as a rangefinder attached to his helmet but in addition to that, he had painted his helmet to liken it to a flewt, an insect of Naboo. Six green compound eyes had been painted onto the sides of the helmet, three on either side, just above the visor. Below the visor was an insectoid mouth, again, in the likeness of a flewt.

"Are you ready, or do I have to wait for you to feed your collection of jellybees?" Whirlwind asked, still tapping his foot.

"Well, maybe I should do that before we go..." Insect said in a light tone, making to turn and go back into his room.

Whirlwind grabbed his arm and led him off "Let's go, funny man. We've got an intruder to find."

* * *

"You think we'll find anything?" The Gurreck Squad member known as Sky asked.

"I think there must be at least one stowaway aboard." His companion, Gash, so named for the scars on his face replied.

"And when we find them..." Sky started.

"...We blast 'em." Gash finished, raising his blaster rifle for emphasis.

Two droid commandos stuck their heads out into the corridor. As well as being armed with blasters, they were also wielding personal energy shields in order to protect themselves from the clone's fire.

"Cargo bay?" Sky asked.

Gash grunted in rely "Good a place as any to check. It's got about a dozen places to hide though, so be careful."

The two walked into the cargo bay, their weapons raised. As it turned out, their enemy had no need to hide as they heavily outnumbered the two clones. Twenty-one droids stared down the clones, their blasters trained squarely on the clones.

"Oh, stang!" Sky cursed, before a blaster bolt struck him squarely in the throat, sending him to his knees clutching at his throat.

Gash attempted to drag his wounded companion away from the droids, before he too was felled by blaster fire.

"Remember to strike them on their unarmoured sections of body. It will do no good if there are conspicuous blaster marks on their body." TeeEx said as he lowered his smoking blaster, his shot being the one to take down Sky.

"Roger, roger." The Captain of the BX-series commando droids, Unit 838 said, wishing that he could roll his optics at being reminded to repeat the orders which they had already been programmed with.

"Now, move out, when their scouts do not check in, they will be suspicious. We must move while we have the element of surprise. They will not suspect such a large force."

"Roger, roger. Units 290 and 401, take the clones armour." 838 ordered, motioning to two of his subordinates.

"Roger, roger." The two droids said simultaneously as they stripped the clones of their armour and weapons and took them for themselves.

The armour was fairly typical, covered in markings that no doubt designated the squad, 838 observed. There were minor differences between to two sets of armour, however. Gash had two scar like patterns running over his visor, whereas Sky had a sun and an overturned crescent moon embossed onto the right side of his chest plate.

* * *

Searching the droid hold were Zombie and Treetop. Zombie was so known due to his somewhat disturbing fascination with death following a stint of service on Necropolis and because of the skull he had painted onto his helmet. Treetop, an Advanced Recon Force trooper and Gurreck Squad's sharpshooter, had received his name because of the climbing harness he always had attached to his armour, which he had come to use extensively during the war. In addition, he had attached a set of electrobinoculars to his helmet.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Zombie muttered as he shoved an R3 unit out of his path.

Treetop scoffed "You always say that, Zombie, you always say "I've got a bad feeling about this."!"

"Well, this time I mean it." Zombie said.

At that moment, Gash and Sky walked in on the pair, their blasters raised in a defensive, yet non-threatening manner.

"What are you two doing here? I thought you were supposed to be searching in the stern of the ship?" Treetop asked.

Zombie turned to face the two and suddenly drew his blaster "Droids!"

Surprised, Treetop stood back "Zombie, what are you-?"

Before either of them could say anymore, "Gash" and "Sky" gunned the pair down. The droids in the hold let out cries of alarm, although they were quickly silenced when Unit 290 raised his stolen blaster menacingly.

Unit 401 tilted his head to the side in surprise "Strange, how did he know what we were?"

Unit 290 kneeled down and took off Zombie's helmet. He saw a horizontal scar that ran from the clone's eyes and across the bridge of his nose. Where his eyes had once been, there were now two, bright green optics.

"Optics. He must have lost his eyes in a battle. They must have allowed him to see through our armour." Unit 290 said.

"A good thing that he was eliminated early on. He could have posed a threat." Unit 401 said.

Unit 290 shook his head "A clone posing a threat to us? You overestimate them, Unit 401."

"Perhaps you underestimate them, Unit 290." Unit 401 shot back.

"Irrelevant. We must call for backup so that someone else can have their armour." Unit 290 said.

A few moments later, Units 491 and 560 walked into the droid hold and took Zombie and Treetop's armour respectively.

"What of the droids? They are witnesses." Unit 560 questioned once he had put on the armour, glaring threateningly at the cowering droids.

"We will simply lock them in. We can wipe their memories once we take the ship." Unit 401 replied.

"Indeed. Now that we have taken care of them, we must continue out sweep." Unit 290 said, before leading the droids out of the droid hold in search of more clones.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kanar was leading TeeEx, Unit 838 and two other commando droids through the ship.

"We have yet to see Master Reither. I find that troubling." Unit 838 said, his vibro-sword drawn and ready.

"He's around here somewhere, either he went back to the cockpit or he's somewhere between the salon pod and the lounge." Kanar said, clutching both his bidentsabre and his crystal hilt lightsaber.

"We shall find him soon enough and then we will terminate him." TeeEx said calmly.

At that point, two clones burst into the room.

"There they are, blast him!" CT-1235, also known as Four shouted.

"A Dark Jedi!" Four's companion, Cudgel exclaimed as he raised his vibro-mace from which he derived his name.

The commando droids leapt to the front, their personal energy shields raised to defend their commanders. The clones blaster fire was harmlessly absorbed into the shields. Before they could retaliate, Cudgel rushed forward and smashed his vibro-mace into one of the droids, Unit 230. The droid let out a cry as his shield was smashed into pieces and his arm was nearly wrenched free from its socket.

"Take them out, now!" Cudgel cried, before he was decapitated by Unit 838's sword.

Four opened fire, grazing Unit 838 and TeeEx, before landing a hit on Unit 902's chest. It proved to be ineffective; as the droid's heavy armour easily absorbed the damage. Before he could continue firing, Kanar stabbed the unfortunate clone through the throat.

"You two, take their armour." Unit 838 ordered.

Unit 902 complied, taking Cudgel's armour. Unit 230 on the other hand, hesitated.

"Commander, I am damaged. My right arm is not functioning."

Unit 838 stared at the droid in disgust "Put the armour on before I completely offline you. Your left arm still functions, surely?"

As the damaged droid carried out his orders, the group heard blaster fire throughout the ship.

"It sounds like someone's making a stand." Kanar said as he tried to locate the source of the noise.

At that point, TeeEx's com-link activated, showing the form of the leader of the other squad of commando droids, Unit 487.

"Commander, we are engaging Nereid Squad, we expect to terminate them shortly."

TeeEx glared at the tiny holographic figure of the droid "You could not have done so in a stealthy manner?"

"Negative, Commander, the entire squad was present. We are engaging them in the escape pod access tunnel." Unit 487 said.

"They were attempting to escape?" TeeEx asked, alarm evident in is voice.

Unit 487 shook his head "Negative, Commander, they are merely making a stand here. We witnessed one rush in when he saw us.

If they could have done so, TeeEx's optics would have widened "You worthless bucket of bolts! It's a trap!"

At that moment, the familiar sound of a lightsaber could be heard through the com-link. There was a quick flash of...something, and then Unit 487 was still.

"Unit 487, report! Unit 487?" Unit 838 asked.

Unit 487 was still for a moment, before his head toppled free of his shoulders.

Kanar looked at the hologram in alarm "It's Master Reither! Now he knows we're here!"

"Calm yourself, organic, we can still stop him." TeeEx said.

"How? By the looks of it, he just destroyed the second squad!" Kanar exclaimed.

TeeEx growled in annoyance "My forces are droids and are therefore superior to any clone or Jedi. We _will_ take this ship!"

* * *

In the escape pod access tunnel, Master Reither, Klaw, Fang and the sergeant of Nereid Squad, Webber, were standing over the destroyed battle droids. It had been a fierce fight despite the tight quarters. In the end, the droids had been destroyed, but at the cost of almost the remaining half of Nereid Squad, the other half having presumably being taken by the commando droids earlier.

"That was a disaster!" Webber exclaimed.

"Can't really argue with that." Klaw said flatly.

"Are there anymore?" Fang asked.

"I believe so, Sergeant. One of them was communicating with a T-series Tactical droid before I destroyed it." Kayo said as he recalled a discblade into his hand using the Force.

"How many could there be?" Webber asked.

"Likely I'd say at least one other squad." Kayo said.

Webber groaned and clutched at his helmet. Klaw and Fang meanwhile, exchanged glances.

"I'll need to check in and see who else is alive." Fang said as he reached for his com-link.

First he tried Treetop.

"Commander, what is it?" Treetop asked.

"Treetop, take off your helmet." Fang ordered.

Treetop hesitated "For what reason, Commander?"

"Just do it, trooper!" Fang barked.

Treetop moved his hands towards his helmet...and then he crushed his com-link.

Fang sighed "He was one of them."

"What about the rest?" Klaw asked.

One by one, Fang discovered that his troops had been replaced with droids.

"By the Force, are there any left alive?" Webber bemoaned.

"I still have two troopers left to check, Whirlwind and Insect." Fang said without turning around.

"Whirlwind here, go ahead, Sergeant." Whirlwind responded.

"Take off your helmet, _now._" Fang ordered.

Whirlwind, paused, before doing so, revealing him to be a clone.

"May I ask why I needed to do that, sir?" Whirlwind asked.

"Is Insect there with you?" Fang asked, ignoring the question.

"Insect? Sure, we've been searching together." Whirlwind said.

"And has he at any point left your sight?" Fang pressed on.

"Not once, sir." Whirlwind said.

Fang nodded "Good, I want both of you to come to the lounge. If you see any other clone troopers, I want you to run. They're not our brothers, they're droid commandos."

Whirlwind stifled a gasp before he replied "I understand, sir, we're on our way!"

A few moments later, the two clones rushed into the lounge, their helmets off to show their commanders that they were actually clones.

"General, what do we do?" Insect asked.

"We barricade our position; we must not allow the droids to take this ship." Kayo said as he pulled out his lightsaber.

And so the clone troopers hurried to fortify their position, moving objects into the path of the doors. Joining them was the navigator, a clone naval officer by the name of Pole and a 2-1B medical droid. Captain Binary, the pilot and the co-pilots remained in the cockpit.

"They'll be coming soon." Kayo said as he helped Webber and Insect block off the door to the entrance forum.

"Well then, we'd best be prepared for them." Klaw said as he flicked his wrists, unveiling his knives.

It was at that moment that one of the blocked off doors opened, revealing a number of commando droids in clone trooper armour wielding energy shields.

"Attack them! Show no mercy to these murderers!" Fang ordered as he drew his blaster pistol and fired.

Unfortunately for the clones, the energy shields of the commando droids were able to absorb the blaster fire.

"General, those damned shields aren't letting anything through!" Fang exclaimed.

"No blaster fire, let's see how they hold up to something solid!" Kayo said as he threw a number of discblades at his foes.

The blades slowed down before they hit the shields, went through and sliced up the droids. Unit 902 was swiftly decapitated, while another discblade sunk into Unit 560's chest, sending him flying backwards. At once, the droids pulled back.

Fang and Klaw changed surprised glances "They don't normally give up that easily." Fang said.

"I doubt they're giving up, they must be planning something." Klaw replied.

Suddenly, the barricade that the group had constructed was sent flying back into the room, knocking everyone off their feet. Kanar stood at the entrance, his hands raised, having used a tremendous Force push to clear the debris.

"One of Dooku's Dark Acolytes!" Kayo said with disgust as he activated his lightsaber, two brilliant sapphire blades springing to life.

Kanar tried to hide his fear through a facade of arrogance "Former Jedi, Kanar Revv, in the flesh, Master Jedi."

"You'll be a dead man soon, traitor!" Pole shouted as he took a shot at Kanar.

Kanar activated his bidentsabre and easily deflected the shot, causing it to graze the clone's left shoulder.

"Open fire!" Kanar ordered the droids, pointing his lightsaber in the direction of the clones and kayo.

The droids obeyed, quickly taking down the injured Pole. The medical droid stood protectively over him, trying vainly to resuscitate the clone. Kanar strode forward, deflecting the blaster bolts around the room in an overly showy way, twirling his bidentsabre gracefully in wide arcs. Webber stood up to fire at Kanar and was promptly cut down by the Dark Jedi. Whirlwind ducked from cover in order to fire on a commando droid. However, he let out a yelp when a shot from TeeEx took him in the stomach.

"Whirlwind!" Insect cried out in shock, rushing to aid his wounded friend.

"Insect, stay back!" Fang shouted, reaching to pull Insect back...

...Only for Insect to be shot twice, causing him to collapse. Now it was the droids facing down just two clones and one Jedi Master.

"So, it's down to three troops versus a traitor and almost two squads of battle droids. How very honourable." Kayo hissed as he held his lightsaber up in a defensive manner.

"I grow weary of the sound of your voice, Master Jedi. I think it is time to end this." TeeEx said as he gave the order to open fire.

"Take out the Dark Jedi!" Fang snarled s he leapt forward, sword raised towards an unprepared Kanar.

The blade was intercepted however, by Unit 838, who parried it with his vibro-sword. He stepped back and raised his sword in a challenging fashion, _daring _theclone to attack. Fang complied, and the two began to engage in a furious duel. The other droids all stepped back, unwilling to fire and risk hitting their commander. With the droids occupied, Klaw and Kayo lunged towards Kanar, their own blades eager to taste blood. Kanar countered quickly, but knew that he was greatly outmatched. For now, all he could hope to do was defend himself. He simply did not have the skill to repel both attackers. While the duels were going on, TeeEx simply stood back and watched. If it were possible, he'd have a smile of satisfaction plastered on his face.

"Give up, Revv! You are outmatched!" Kayo barked as he struck at Kanar's defence.

"You'll die if you keep this up!" Klaw added as he slashed ferociously.

Kanar's mind was racing. Should he give up? Perhaps they'd offer him mercy...Kanar shook his head. _No, they would never do that_, he thought, _I'm a traitor, they'd never show me mercy!_

Lost in his thoughts, Klaw managed to pounce past Kanar's lightsaber and cut him across his right arm. Kanar let out a cry and clutched at his wound. It was a mistake, and Kanar knew that straight away, but there was nothing he could do. In a moment, he felt two blades close to his throat, one of Klaw's and the other being Kayo's lightsaber.

"I think you'd better surrender, Revv." Kayo said darkly.

Kanar opened his mouth to speak, perhaps to beg for mercy, when he was interrupted. There was a cry and all present turned to see Unit 838 had managed to overpower Fang, sinking his sword into the clone's throat. Taking advantage of the confusion, TeeEx fired a single shot...straight into the backpack Kanar was wearing. The backpack containing the detpacks. Kanar's eyes went wide as he heard an ominous sizzling sound.

"Run!" Kanar cried as he wrenched the backpack free and tossed it away, directly at the feet of Klaw.

Kanar, TeeEx and the commando droids all bolted for the exit, while Klaw and Kayo stood paralysed. It was over in an instant. A massive explosion rocked the ship and the hull buckled from the force of the blast.

Kanar glared at TeeEx "You idiot! You could have killed us all! You could have destroyed the ship!"

TeeEx merely waved his hand in a dismissive fashion "As I told you, there was no chance of the detpacks tearing a hole in the ship. We should call in our reinforcements now, all forces save for the crew in the cockpit have been neutralised. All we have to worry about now are the starfighters escorting the ship."

"I'll check out the lounge first, just to make sure they're dead." Kanar said as he made his way into the badly damaged room.

It was a disaster area. Most of the room had been badly damaged in the explosion. Master Reither was nothing but a charred corpse, but his lightsaber was somehow in good condition. Kanar bent down to examine it.

"Cortosis," Kanar muttered "Well, that explains how it survived."

All of a sudden, Kayo's body shifted, causing Kanar to leap back in shock. After a moment, a badly injured Klaw crawled out from under the deceased Jedi. It was clear that he would not survive much longer.

"You...miserable...traitor..." Klaw gasped as he clutched at his sides, which seemed to be causing him a great deal of pain.

Kanar remained silent, simply staring at the clone.

"You're an...an animal...not fit to...to live!" Klaw spat out, before he slumped forward, dead.

Kanar gazed sadly at the clone before he said: "I know."

After a moment, Kanar called in the reinforcements. Within moments, a _Diamond_-class cruiser exited from Hyperspace. It was the _Winds of Fortune_, Kanar's flagship. It was accompanied by five full squads of _Scarab_-class droid starfighters, as Count Dooku had deemed Kanar unfit to use vulture droids. The clone pilots in their starfighters let out exclamations of surprise but attempted to fight back. It was a good effort on their part and they did manage t o take down a good number of the droid starfighters, but in the end, the support from the cruiser and the sheer number of the Separatist droids defeated them. With the starfighters out of the way, the _Winds of Fortune _docked with the _Red Phantom_. More droid commandos marched through to replace those that had been destroyed. Joining them were OOM series pilot droids, mechanics to repair the damaged ship and...

"Scalpel, Vial, it's good to see you." Kanar greeted the two medical droids, who were two of the three beings he called his friends.

"You are damaged, Kanar, clearly you are slipping." Scalpel, an ADK-25-MED droid tutted.

"Now, now, Scalpel, you know how fragile these organics are. It is rather pitiable, really." Vial, Scalpel's assistant, a MED-47 medical droid said.

"Perhaps. We should work on you now, Kanar, while the wound is still fresh. We would not want you to catch some kind of _disease _that plagues you organics so." Scalpel said as he leaned in close and began probing Kanar's wound.

Kanar let out a hiss "Can't you use some anaesthetic or something?"

Scalpel looked up at Kanar with his glowing white optic in amusement "Anaesthetic? Kanar, you don't need such things, you should be able to deal with this without it."

"Like I said, organics are fragile and weak." Vial said.

Kanar sat in silence as the two droids began to patch Kanar up. As the droids worked, Kanar glanced up to see the captain and pilots being escorted to the _Winds of Fortune_, where the brig awaited them. As they walked past, they glared at Kanar. The Dark Jedi sighed, he would be glad when the war was over.

* * *

And end of chapter two. The next chapter will deal with a force of Separatists as they attempt to escape from the Republic. Kanar and his group will return at a later point. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, please remember to review and finally...thanks for reading!


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